In a corporate environment, a system administrator may need to oversee a large number of workstations. Typically, a system administrator controls proper operability of these workstations using a management console coupled to the workstations via a local network (e.g., Ethernet, Local Area Network (LAN), etc.). The management console communicates with a workstation to request data stored on the workstation when needed. For example, if an employee reports a problem with his or her personal computer (PC), the system administrator may use the management console to collect current information about this PC (e.g., current CPU usage, current memory usage, etc.) and identify the source of the problem. The management console may also request a workstation to provide certain sensitive information pertaining to a user of a relevant PC when the system administrator detects a problem with this PC and needs to notify the user about the problem. This information is typically collected by software agents running on the managed device and may include, for example, an employee number, an employee email address, an employee phone number, etc.
At a certain point of time, a company may decide to purchase new computers for its employees and donate old computers to a school or library. Alternatively, a company may decide to transfer old computers to the employees for personal use (e.g., through an employee discount purchase program). Then, the system administrator may need to reconfigure the old computers to ensure they provide an adequate privacy protection when used by new owners.